When we were banding birds along the Orara River Coutts Crossing on April 26
Jan Patterson caught two Golden Whistlers among other birds. Both had been
banded at the site on 26 May 2012. Both were in the grey ‘female’ plumage when
banded and both had some yellow feathers on underparts and one had some black
feathers around the eye. This bird was in full adult male plumage when
retrapped but the other bird still had the same plumage as when banded. If it
was a male it would have assumed full adult male plumage at the time of being
retrapped so this bird was, almost certainly, an adult female. It has been
known for some time that adult female Golden Whistlers may have some yellow
marking on their underparts. This assumption of male characters by old female
birds is apparently known in other species such as the Domestic Fowl and is
apparently due to the deterioration of the gonads. There are photos of this
bird along with a report on the banding on my blog at:
http://gregswildliferamblings.blogspot.com.au/ . I have also published a post
on observing and photographing a Powerful Owl at the Coffs Harbour Botanical
Gardens.
Regards
Greg
Dr Greg. P. Clancy
Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide
| PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460
| 02 6649 3153 | 0429 601 960
http://www.gregclancyecologistguide.com
http://gregswildliferamblings.blogspot.com.au/
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